The Ghosts of Heaven

by Marcus Sedgwick

[jeannamichel]

As much as the ending pushes me to give it 4 stars, I just can't. Most of the time reading, I felt there wasn't enough plot to move me along.

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A stick carves shapes into the sand. A noose swings in the wind. A staircase reaches for the sky. A government tells a lie. In these four episodes, there is something that connects them each. They will be connected forever. History will repeat itself and time will continue—but time will not continue in a straight line.

I picked this up for three reasons. The cover is gorgeous and it made me ask a bunch of questions because the synopsis was certainly not telling me much. I found a copy on the clearance rack in the store. And I was persuaded by Jesse, a booktuber, who mentioned how cool the book sounded.
Usually, I love going into books blind—not knowing what they are about. With this one, going in blind is not a good idea. For most of The Ghosts of Heaven, I had no clue what was going on and where this was leading me.

I, originally, wanted to write four separate reviews to closely touch upon each story in the book but after starting the book, I found that that would be no help to anyone. Sedgwick tells The Ghosts of Heaven in four parts, called quarters, and explains a different period of time. What he has created here is quite genius but sort of pointless. Each quarter gives readers glimpses of people’s lives. However, we never grow close enough to feel any sort of emotion to them when anything happens. There is a faint story, happening in the background, but the point of it all is only revealed at the end of the book.

Sedgwick ends Ghosts in such a way that I would love to bump up my rating to four stars but I just can’t with the simplistic plot. Unfortunately, there was not enough plot, nothing grabbed me, and nothing rooted me to the pages. The first quarter tells readers of a cave woman about to get her “big break” in drawing pictures on a cave wall. The second tells the story of a woman who is accused of being a witch, during the end of The Witch Trials. The third quarter takes place in the early 1930s, on Long Island, with a luxurious but wicked asylum as the backdrop. The fourth quarter, which is by far the most interesting (and where readers get all the answers), is set in the far-off future on a spaceship, shuttling toward a new Earth. All of these stories have a terribly simple but clever connection.

If you are into philosophy and non-fiction, give The Ghosts of Heaven a go. I didn’t like it as much as I would have hoped. However, this book will blow someone’s mind.